First Conviction in ‘Operation Reclaim Renovo’

RENOVO – Law enforcement officials have obtained their first conviction resulting from a series of drug raids in Clinton County, part of a spring sweep concentrated in Renovo, what they called “Operation Reclaim Renovo.”

Mitchell Robert Coover, 31, appeared before Clinton County President Judge Craig Miller today and entered guilty pleas in four pending cases, including two counts of delivery of cocaine. Sentencing was scheduled for later in July, Coover returned to the Clinton County Correctional Facility in default of bail. District attorney Dave Strouse said he faces a maximum of over 30 years in prison.

Coover’s name had been among nine Renovo residents listed for arrest in April, the result of a state police undercover investigation over several months into the distribution of narcotics in western Clinton County. Police said at the time that Renovo had become “a cesspool of crack cocaine.” Authorities blamed part of the problem on a lack of law enforcement in the Renovo area, the borough operating with one officer. A meeting on a state-conducted regional police study is scheduled for Renovo later this month.